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In fact in another example, not using the 'it" was acceptable (something like: "he likes (it) when his daughter reads.) and there was a long discussion about the two ways being equally acceptable. The inconsistency is a bit unnerving.

In the USA we don't have to say "eat lunch" just like the French leave out manger before dejeuner. We often say "let's do lunch".
I put, "I like it when we lunch early," and was marked wrong. This answer should be counted as correct also. 4/9/2018

“it” is not expressly in the French sentence. The word appears in the translation because that is how an English speaker would speak the sentence. Consider what the “it” is referring to. It is referring to “when we can eat lunch early” , i.e. the clause setting out what it is that “ I like “.

Le dîner. Sometimes, you will also hear "lunch." :) The French "dîner" is "(le) souper in québécois—and also parts of Swiss and Belgian French and in regions of France. As one authority put it, eating-time terms are a "véritable casse-tête" (a real headache) for French people visiting Québec (and vice-versa for québécois going to France. The English "supper" comes from Middle English "super," which comes from Old French "soper" or "souper," and English "soup" also comes from this, because the evening meal was often soup. Bon appétit!

I believe the 'it' is in the expression 'aimer bien' as opposed to 'aimer'. Idiomatically in English, I believe "aimer bien" means 'I REALLY like it'. I can't spell this out syntactically, but this may answer the puzzle. The contrast between 'aimer bien' and 'aimer' would be: 'I like it when we can eat lunch early' as opposed to 'I like eating/having lunch early'.

In my experience in American English we use to "eat lunch" and to "have lunch" interchangeably. Every time I use "have" I get it wrong so I'm assuming they are not interchangeable in French??? Can someone please clarify. Thanks